Many furniture manufacturers use metal drawer guide assemblies having an elongate stationary lower metal case runner. The metal case runner is secured to an inside structure of a furniture article, and an elongate upper metal drawer guide is secured to the bottom of a drawer at front and rear ends of the drawer, for example. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,706. Plastic drawer glides are then often mounted to somewhere in the vicinity of a rear wall of a drawer to facilitate movement of the drawer along the lower metal case runner. In most conventional drawer guide assemblies, the lower metal case runner consists of a generally U-shaped (or T-shaped) metal rail (in cross-section), having flanges projecting horizontally outwardly from the upper ends thereof. The upper metal drawer guide is generally C-shaped in cross-section and may have an integral, upwardly-extending metal tab member at the rear end that is secured to the wall of the drawer. Plastic drawer glides prevent complete metal-to-metal contact between the case runner and the drawer guide and assist with the movement of the drawer along the case runner.
It is desired to reduce friction between relatively-movable components of a drawer guide assembly so as to improve relative movement between the drawer guide and the case runner. It is further desirable to provide a drawer guide system that enables a drawer to be virtually fully extended from a fully closed position within a cabinet or drawer frame, without having any further extension or dislodgement of the drawer and/or imbalance of the cabinet.